** I do not own the rights to Harry Potter, the names and original ideas belongs to J.K Rowling.**

Chapter 7

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…And the Dark Lord will mark him as equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies "

~ Sybill Trelawney

Tonight was the night when the deed would be done. The Fortune-teller had been very clear that a boy would be born in late July, a boy that could destroy him and jeopardize everything he had worked for. It was of the utmost importance that this threat was eliminated at all costs.

A large snake slithered by his left leg, and continued up on the armrest of the chair Tom was sitting on, and stopped when it reached the neck of its master. It looked into Tom's eyes and immediately understood what his plans were and what that meant for her. She was the closest thing to an equal he had ever had, she was a part of him, just as indestructible and majestic as he was.

"Nagini", Tom whispered, "it is time for us to go..". He said this with his gaze forward, imagining how the world would become his after tonight, how it would be impossible to penetrate his walls. Nagini gave out a hiss and slithered back down onto the floor, where she positioned herself in the same calm, arrogant manners of a cat.

There was a quiet thud coming from the other side of the door, and soon after the sound, the door opened and a short, hefty man entered. He was dressed in a striped suit that showed off his penguin-like shape. Chunks of hair was missing from his head and he had big, round eyes that made him look constantly hungry. On top of all this he had large front teeth that gave him the look of a rodent. But there was another significant feature on this man that was meaningful; on his left hand a finger was missing.

The man approached Tom and kneeled when he was three feet away from the chair.

"My Lord Voldemort, I've sent for the Death Eaters, your followers should be here any minute", the man said, while still kneeling.

"Wormtail, you have been most loyal in the matter of the prophecy", Tom responded.

These words were words of affection to Wormtail, at the same time as they were nothing more but facts to Tom. Wormtail was just another one in the lines of followers, foot-soldiers, an asset, to him.

But his mind was not on the significance of his followers, but on the boy that he was going to destroy tonight.

"Thank you, My Lord, thank you", Wormtail said teary-eyed,"the boy will be there tonight, I'm sure of it". Tom did not even glance at Wormtail. He knew that the boy would be there, he knew that there would be some kind of resistance, and he knew he would succeed. There was no question of his powers or what he could do with them, it was well-known that he was powerful and that his powers were greatly increasing every day that passed.

Wormtail left the room after a long time of Tom ignoring him. He was thinking back on situations, memories that had led up to this moment; the moment when he would finally be The Lord. He would not only become the most powerful ruler, but also the ultimate lethal weapon.

The work of finding the boy had been complicated by the fact that there were actually two boys to whom the prophecy could refer. Their families had both tried to overthrow him without succeeding, and both families had a boy due to be born in the end of July. However, it was of importance to him that one of the boys was a half-blood. It made him a more worthy opponent since he, himself, was of the same heritage, it was also according to his plans to leave all the pure-bloods alive and kill everyone and anyone who did not belong to the real and pure wizarding world.

He could hear the church-clock chime in the far distance and he knew that what he needed to do, needed to be done now. The chair gave out a small creek when he lifted himself from it, and there was another hiss coming from the snake that was still laying on the floor. Tom raised one hand and Nagini slithered up and coiled around his arm. Then there was a thud and the room was empty.

A split second later Tom found himself on a dark street. To his left there was a sign reading "Godric's Hollow". He began walking down the graveyard to where he knew the family was hiding. All around him he heard cheers of joy and occasionally singing, coming from the houses, it was New Year's Eve and people were celebrating all around England. The celebrations, however, did not matter to him, the only celebration he would indulge in was the moment after the kill when everything would be over and nothing would ever stand in his way again.

He continued out from the graveyard and walked on a little path towards the house at the end of the street. His steps were resolute and he was walking in a proud manner with his back straight and eyes gazing forward.

There it was; the house, all lit up and inviting, inviting him to enter. He thought of how this pathetic boy would never grow up to know anything, how he did not know anything now, and somehow that justified his mission greatly. Someone who does not yet feel will not recognize pain or horror.

He had reached the little gate was made of dark iron and the hinges made noises as it swung open for him. The garden was covered in snow but he did not leave any footprints behind. Five feet away from the big oak-door he raised his arm from the cloak, he was holding a yew-wand in his hand; stretching it towards the door. Without a sound the door opened slowly and the warmth of the house hit him as he kept walking.

From inside the house came the smell of roast-beef and pumpkin-pie, and laughter could be heard from upstairs. It was a woman's laughter, filled with heart-warming love and affection, something, or rather someone, that she cared for had caused her to produce the sound.

Seconds after the woman finished off laughing, there was a man's voice saying something in a hushed voice and then he heard it... The loud chuckle from a baby; the boy.

The door shut silently behind Tom, and he managed to take a few steps forward before a man appeared at the top of the stairs. There was an explosion of colors as spells and hexes protruded from both their wands. The man upstairs were holding on to his wand with both hands, fighting with everything he had, but he was so much weaker than Tom was. Another series of colors emerged as the wands sent out another wave of magic.

Tom could feel the power from the other decrease as he sent a last powerful wave at the same time as yelling the unforgivable words.

"AVADA KEDAVRA".

The man landed on his back, lifeless. It all became quiet for a second before the sobbing of the woman became audible. With the hunger of a mad man; Tom went up the stairs and followed the sounds he heard. In a well-lit room he found them; a woman holding on to her baby while sobbing and repeating the same words over and over again.

"Please, don't kill Harry, anything but Harry...".

She was beautiful, very unlike the pictures he had seen of his own mother. However, she was a mudblood – dirty, so she needed to die.

"Don't kill him, have mercy, please don't kill Harry..", she cried, but in vain. The Dark Lord's hand was raised and with his eyes fixed on her he said the same words he had told her husband. She fell to the ground and dropped her son on the floor. Her red hair looked like fire where she lay with her face turned to the scene. A tear fell from her eye down to the carpet, it made her look like she was only sleeping, but no one survived from the killing curse.

Tom looked at her corpse for another minute before he turned to the boy; the one he had come for – his mission. For a split second all the sounds around him became enhanced and clear. He could hear a dog howl in the distance, a house down the street where they were still singing and celebrating. He could hear the sounds of the wind hitting the windows and the snow hitting the ground. He could hear the boy breathing slowly. The little baby was not crying or panting or showing any signs of fright. He just looked straight at Tom with his brown eyes, calmness and incomprehension.

This was the boy that was his possible, future threat? Was it really this baby that would one day be the one to perhaps kill him? There was nothing in this boy that made him think twice about what he was going to do. For Tom this was nothing but another obstacle to overcome, and he would overcome it now...

Tom raised his hand; he was going to make short work of this. With his eyes staring into the boy's eyes and the boy staring back, he cast the final spell.

Everything was bright. He could not hear his voice or see his body, it was as if he was invisible, as if he was the light itself. He tried moving, but there was nothing to move, he could not feel his limbs or even breath, but somehow he did not need to breath. For the first time in his life he felt powerless and empty, as if he had been drained of everything he possessed, like he had been stripped of himself.

This moment lasted less than a microsecond, and then it was over. All of these feelings had he felt in that short time, it had felt like an eternity. But now everything was black. Darkness overcame him and shaped him into the creature he now was, this was the color of his soul, the being he had been turned into.

He was not dead. Neither was he alive, he was not even a thing. He was a soul, a being made of air and energy, intangible. There was only one word existing in his being, a name that would forever be branded into him. The name of a boy that had defeated him before he could speak or think, a boy that would grow up to become a threat to him. A boy that could possibly kill him.

"Harry Potter..."